Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/150

 OXEILL

OPPER

Dallas and was admitted to practice in 1^43. lie was a Whig representative in the Pennsylvania legislature, 18r)0-52 and 18G0; state senator, 18.j3-o4; was defeated for repre- sentative in the 37th congi-ess to complete the term of Edward Joy Morris (q.v.) in 1861; was a Republican representative from the sec- ond district of Pennsylvania in the 38th-41st congresses. 1863-71; was defeated for the 42nd congress in 1870 and was again a representative in the 43d-53d congresses, 1873-93, becoming '• father of the house" upon the death of Samuel J. Randall, April 12, 1890. He was a member of the committee on commerce in the 38th-42nd, 46th, 48tli-53d congresses, and of the committee on ap- propriations in the 43d-45th and 47th congresses. His last official act was to administer the oatli to Speaker Crisp, Aug. 7, 1893. He never married, and died in the house which he had occupied for fifty-five years with his elder brother and niece in Philadelphia. Pa., Nov, 25, 1893.

O'NEILL, John J., representative, was born in St. Louis, Mo., June 25, 1846. He was educated in public schools, was in the civil service, 1861-66, gaged in manufacturing gold pens in St. Louis, 1867-71, and was a representative in the Missouri legislature, 1872-78, where he labored in behalf of the working classes and women, and was chair- man of the committee on emigration. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1878; was a member of the municipal assembly of St. Louis, 1879-83, and a Democratic representative from the 11th Missouri district in the 48th, 49th, 50th, 52d and 53d con- gresses, 1883-89 and 1891-95. His seat in the 53d congress was contested by Charles F. Joy, but Mr. O'Neill obtained it, April 3. 1894. He introduced and secured the passage of a bill providing for the arbitration of differences between employers and employees in the 49th congress, which gave him a national reputation. He was married, Nov. 30, 1872, to a daughter of Solomon H. Rob- bins of St. Louis, Mo. He died in St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 19, 1898.

OPDYCKE, Emerson, soldier, was born in Hubbard. Ohio, Jan. 7, 1830; son of Albert (who served in the war of 1812) and Elizabeth (Harmon) Gilson Opdycke; grandson of Capt. Albert (a Revolutionary officer) and Martha (Hendrickson) Opdycke, and a descendant of Louris Jansen and Cliristina Opdyck of Holland, who .settled in New Netlierlands previous to 1653, and resided at Gravesend, Long Island, N.Y., 1655. Heattended the district school, and was a saddle and harness maker in Warren, Oliio. He removed to Cali- fornia, and was a clerk in San Francisco, 1855-57, returning to Warren, Ohio, in 1857. He was married, March 3, 1857, to Lucy Wells, daughter of Benjamin Stevens of Warren, Ohio. He was mustered in the volunteer army in July, 1861; was

commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 41st Ohio regiment, Aug. 26, 1861; was promoted captain in January, 1862, and was acting major of the regiment at Sliiloh, where he led an important charge. He recruited the 125th Ohio volunteers and was commissioned its colonel, Jan. 1, 1868, serving in the movements against Chattanooga,

1863, at Chickamauga, where he lost one-third of his regiment, and at Chattanooga, Nov. 25, 1863, where he led his command, ademi-brigade, in the storming of Missionary Ridge. He participated in the Atlanta campaign, where he was the first to reach the crest of Rocky Face Ridge; received a severe wound at Resaca, and in June, 1864, led three regiments in one of three unsuccessful assaults on Kenesaw Mountain. He commanded the 1st brigade, 2d division, 4th army corps, from August, 1864, and at Franklin, Tenn., Nov. 30,

1864, and led his brigade without orders into a gap caused by the Federal forces falling back, thereby gaining a victory. In the battle of Nashville he pursued the enemy to the Tennessee river, and his brigade was prominent in repelling Hood's invasion of Tennessee. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers, and brevetted major-general of volunteers, March 13, 1865, to date from Nov. 30, 1864, for gallant and meritor- ious services at the battle of Franklin. He commanded a division at New Orleans, La., until January, 1866, when he resigned and entered the wholesale dry goods business in New York city. He is the author of: Notes on the Chickamauga Campaign in Vol. III. " Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," pp. 668-71 (1884). He died in New York citj', April 25, 1884.

OPPER, Frederick Burr, cartoonist, was born in Madison, Ohio, Jan. 2, 1857; son of Lewis and Aurelia (Burr) Opper; grandson of Ernest and Anna (Hartman) Opper and of Charles and Polly (Bestor) Burr, and a descendant of Benjamin Burr, a native of England, who was an original settler of Hartford, Conn., in 1635. His father emigrated from Austria-Hungary and en- gaged in mercantile pursuits in Madison, Ohio. Frederick was educated in the public schools of Madison, and in 1871 entered the office of the Madison Gazette to learn the printers trade. He removed to New York city in 1872, and became a clerk in a mercantile house, devoting his leisure to drawing humorous sketches for which he obtained a ready market. He attended the drawing class of the Cooper Union evening school for one term and in 1876 left his clerii-al jiosition to illustrate for Wihl Oats and other publications. He was a member of the art staff of Frank Leslie's publishing house. 1877-80, and a member of the staff of Puck, 1880-99. becoming a stock- holder in the corporation. He was married in 1881 to Nellie Barnett. In May, 1899, he accepted